15 Outrageous Facts About McDonalds

From Hamburger University to public riots over a lack of Hello Kitty toys, we count 15 fun and fascinating facts about the fast food chain very well known around the globe.

15 – McJob

The well-known dictionary Merriam-Webster added the term McJob to its line-up, defined as “a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement”

McDonald’s immediately called for its removal since the term clearly sullied their line of employment, but Merriam-Webster held fast with the response “we stand by the accuracy and appropriateness of our definition”

Oooooh, burn

14 – Employee Pay Gap

During the last 10 years, the pay gap between McDonald CEOs and its workers has doubled

In fact, it’s gotten so bad that some employees continue to hold strikes demanding higher wages simply to get by on the monetary scraps flung down from the executive table

With living costs rising, and wages remaining the same, some even resort to working at multiple McDonalds just to survive

Tragic in my opinion

13 – McDonald Arches

Unbelievably, in a poll conducted by Sponsorship Research International, they found 88 percent of the population could identify the yellow McDonald arches, but only 54 percent recognised the cross that crucified Jesus Christ

This is due to the heavy marketing budget allotted to McDonalds: over 2 billion dollars, extending through television, the internet and public advertisements

Even crazier is that 96 of children from schools could identify Ronald McDonald, more than any other fictional character ever only beaten out by Santa Claus

12 – The Original Business for McDonalds

It seems obvious to everyone that Maccas is a fast food restaurant and nothing else, but if you were to ask the original founder from 1974, Ray Kroc, that very question, he would reply with the answer, well actually no, the purpose of McDonalds is real estate

That’s right – the primary focus of his business was location, location, location, followed by marketing, brand recognition and finally the food itself

He knew from the very beginning that a poorly placed restaurant would fail, but a colourful restaurant with a logo that extends into the sky would be noticed by EVERYONE

11 – McDonalds Didn’t Originally Have Drive-Thrus

It’s so commonplace to us now that it’s hard to imagine a Maccas without the drive-thru

But it was in 1975, near an Arizona military base, that one building incorporated a drive-thru simply to let the soldiers stationed there buy food, since at the time, they weren’t allowed to leave their car while dressed in fatigues

From that point, it worked out so well that almost all future McDonalds would feature a drive-thru – and the idea of “fast” food took hold